


Message in a Bottle

by Morning_Glory



Series: Trope Bingo Prompt Fills [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Celebratory Kiss, F/F, F/M, Gen, Trope Bingo Round 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 19:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morning_Glory/pseuds/Morning_Glory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Let’s fire this bad boy up and find us a thunder god."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Message in a Bottle

**Author's Note:**

> Giant Leap was fighting me this week so the next chapter will take a bit longer to post. Instead, here's a silly little thing, a sort of prequel to the fic that's eating my brain that I never thought I'd actually write. As always, mistakes are mine, characters are sadly not.

The lab is nearly silent this time of night, with only Jane and Darcy alone wandering around in it. S.H.I.E.L.D brought them in after Manhattan, after Thor was gone again, and set Jane up with everything she could need to turn her research into reality, including Darcy. The hum of the machines is only broke up by the soft click of typing as Jane sets up the last minute tweaks to the code before running the small scale test of the equipment.

“You sure about this?” Darcy breaks the silence. Jane doesn’t look away from the screen in front of her.

“All the data supports this working.”

“And what do you think?” Darcy steps away from what she was working on to lean on the desk next to Jane. “Forget the data, forget what anyone else thinks; do _you_ think it’ll work?” Jane pauses and actually thinks about it for a long moment.

“I really do.” She nods and Darcy grins.

“Good enough for me. Let’s fire this bad boy up and find us a thunder god.” Jane looks surprised by the enthusiasm but nods determinedly. She turns back to the computer and punches in the sequence to start the machine. Darcy hangs back a little, wary, but ready to grab the doctor and run the second it looks like anything is going wrong. Jane is focused on the data moving across her screen until Darcy tugs on her arm, drawing her attention to the perfectly formed wormhole inside the machine. It’s not large, maybe the size of a small cantaloupe, but undeniable proof of success.

“It worked,” Jane is wide-eyed and breathless. “It really worked!” Whatever response Darcy intended to make is cut off by the sudden appearance of hands on her face and lips being pressed to her own. She squeaks in surprise, and just as sudden as it starts, it’s over. Jane pulls away, face red, wide-eyed, hands flying up to cover her mouth. “Oh, god, I’m sorry.” Darcy stares at her for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

“Wow, okay. No worries, boss lady.” Jane hasn’t moved and still looks shocked, so Darcy teases her, hoping to break the tension. “I just really hope your boy isn’t the jealous sort, ‘cause that could make things awkward later.” That gets her. Jane giggles behind her hands and lowers her head to take a moment. “Aren’t we supposed to be... doing something right now?” Distraction successful.

“Shit.” Jane scrambles back to the computers to monitor the data and starts directing Darcy what she should be looking for. They work in near silence for a few minutes before deciding everything looks stable.

“So, now what?” Jane stares over at Darcy blankly until she elaborates. “Was there something you were going to send through to test it? Make sure no one gets scrambled during travel?”

Jane gasps as she finally connects with what Darcy’s talking about. “Oh, well, not really? We had a rough plan for something, but we didn’t expect to get here so soon. Nothing's ready.”

Darcy glances around and starts pushing stuff across the desk. She gives a triumphant cry and digs a blank notepad out from the pile. She slams it onto the desk in front of Jane, grabbing a pen from the drawer and drops it on top. “Use this.”

“What?” Jane glances down at the paper and back up at Darcy, who has moved away and started digging through more drawers.

“Write a note for whoever’s on the other side so they know what’s going on.” Darcy’s voice is muffled slightly as she half crawls into one of the lower cupboards.

“But Thor said Heimdall keeps an eye on everything, so he’ll know.” Jane thinks about what she’s just said. “He would already know, and can have someone there waiting.”

“That’s great, and we know the portal works, but what if it’s not... tuned into the right station?”

“No, the data all reads the same,” Jane’s voice is firm. She knows this is right.

“But you’re not sure you haven’t connected to one of the other realms until you check, right?” Darcy drags herself out of the cupboard to look at Jane. “So send a quick explanation and say it needs to get to Thor. Then if it isn’t Asgard maybe they can pass it on? Or send back confirmation at least?” Jane considers it and looks impressed.

“That’s actually... a really great idea, Darcy.”

“You don’t need to sound so surprised.” Darcy rolls her eyes and goes back to digging through the cupboards and drawers around the lab. Jane starts to write, muttering to herself about the odds of anyone who gets the note being able to even read English. “Ah-ha!” Darcy stands, holding a small, metal thermos up triumphantly.

“Really?” Jane gives her that raised eyebrow look, the one that means she thinks Darcy is being silly.

“Seal that,” Darcy points to the note in front of Jane as she walks back to the desk. “Inside this and protect it from getting damaged? Maybe?” She shrugs. Jane smiles at the clever suggestion and nods her approval. Better than nothing, at least. She reads over her note one more time.

“Okay, got it.” Jane rolls up the note and slides it into the container, sealing it tightly. She bites lip and shrugs, looking up at Darcy. “I guess that’s it?”

“Wait!” Darcy grabs a sharpie off her desk and reaches for the thermos. She writes ‘ _For Thor_ ’ on the side, then adds a rough sketch of his hammer and some lightning.  After a few seconds pause, she adds the old Norse runes representing him as well. She notices Jane watching with interest and shrugs. “So they know who it’s for. I may have looked a few things up since last time.”

“Have you done this before?” Jane teases, amused but also grateful at all the thought her assistant has put into this. Darcy sticks her tongue out at her.

“So are we gonna do this?” Jane nods and reaches for the container. Darcy kisses the lid, leaving a faint mark from her lip gloss before handing it over. Jane raises an eyebrow at the action and Darcy shrugs. “SWAK’d for luck.” Jane shakes her head and laughs. She walks to the chamber and hesitates as she is about to send the thermos through. She pulls it back and adds a kiss of her own before shoving it into the wormhole.

“Please work.”

“Now we wait?” Darcy asks and Jane nods. She hovers next to the machine with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Darcy comes up behind and hugs her, resting her chin on Jane’s shoulder. They stay like that for a while, silently. Again, Darcy is the one who breaks the silence.

“Maybe we should have taped the note to the outside and filled it with coffee.” She muses. “He seemed to like that last time.” Jane’s shoulders shake with suppressed laughter for a short while before the reality of everything they’ve just done hits her and she breaks. Darcy grins at yet another successful distraction and lets go so Jane can lean against the desk. “Speaking of, I’m going to make some while we wait. You want?” Jane nods, still laughing herself to tears, as Darcy walks away. 

When she can manage it without falling, Jane moves across to the couch Darcy insisted on having brought into the lab space. She chooses her position carefully so she’s still able to watch the machines from her new spot. Over by the coffee maker Darcy finally loses the composure that she’s been holding together for Jane’s sake.

“Ha! Suck it, haters.” Darcy yells toward the ceiling as she starts dancing around the room. “All hail Dr. Jane Foster, conqueror of space and time.” Jane laughs and Darcy turns on her. “Have you been holding out on me?”

“What?”

“Are you secretly from Gallifrey? Do you have a mysterious pocket watch you take with you everywhere? Two hearts? ” She pauses, fighting to keep a straight face. “That’s why you won’t let me in your office, isn’t it? You’re hiding a TARDIS in there.”

“You are ridiculous.” Silly as the teasing is, Jane blushes at the unrestrained praise behind it.

“ _You_ just did something that your little scientist _boys club_ told you was impossible. That deserves a fucking celebration.” The coffeemaker finishes brewing with a loud hiss and Darcy prepares a mug for each of them before joining Jane on the couch. “And if S.H.I.E.L.D didn’t have us on such a tight leash, we’d be going out after all of this and partying so hard even Stark would think it was too over the top.”

“Not sure that’s even possible,” Jane giggles and takes another sip of her coffee. She leans over to rest her head on Darcy’s shoulder as they both fall silent, watching the swirling colours reflecting from the chamber and around the room. They wait.

Jane is leaning over to put her empty mug on the nearest table when the light from the machine flairs and something comes through. Both women are off the couch in seconds and running for the machine. Jane frowns as she approaches and sees that it is the thermos they sent coming back. She scans it to make sure it’s safe, mentally processing what went wrong to return what they sent back to them. It isn't until she removes the container and Darcy points it out that she notices the marks they’d made have been crossed out and new ones added. It’s addressed to Jane and inside is a note from Thor.

“It worked.” Jane’s smile returns full force as she begins to read the message. Darcy grins.

“Big red button?” Jane fights to calm herself down and nods. Darcy walks to the door and slams her hand down on the button to summon S.H.I.E.L.D. support to them. Within a minute agents are swarming the lab, lead by the iPod thief himself.

“Ms. Foster,” he starts and is quickly cut off by Darcy.

“Doctor!” Agent Coulson doesn’t speak, just turns his head and stares at her. She continues undeterred by the look that had a few of the other agents freezing in place for a moment. “She earned her degrees, the least you can do is show a little respect and acknowledge her hard work by addressing her with the proper title.” He doesn't say anything to Darcy, turning his attention back to Jane who looks surprised and slightly overwhelmed at the vehemence of Darcy's words.

“My apologies for the oversight, Doctor Foster. I understand you have something to share with us?” Darcy makes a face at him behind his back and Jane fights to keep from laughing. She catches Darcy's eye over his shoulder and her lips twitch as she addresses him.

“Greetings, Son of Coul.”

Darcy cackles.


End file.
